ASTER Digital Elevation Model V004

The Terra Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Level 1 Precision Terrain Corrected Registered At-Sensor Radiance (AST_L1T) data contains calibrated at-sensor radiance, which corresponds with the ASTER Level 1B (AST_L1B) that has been geometrically corrected and rotated to a north-up UTM projection. The AST_L1T is created from a single resampling of the corresponding ASTER L1A (AST_L1A) product. The bands available in the AST_L1T depend on the bands in the AST_L1A and can include up to three Visible and Near Infrared (VNIR) bands, six Shortwave Infrared (SWIR) bands, and five Thermal Infrared (TIR) bands. The AST_L1T dataset does not include the aft-looking VNIR band 3. The AST_L1T product has a spatial resolution of 15 meters (m) for the VNIR bands, 30 m for the SWIR bands, and 90 m for the TIR bands. The precision terrain correction process incorporates GLS2000 digital elevation data with derived ground control points (GCPs) to achieve topographic accuracy for all daytime scenes where correlation statistics reach a minimum threshold. Alternate levels of correction are possible (systematic terrain, systematic, or precision) for scenes acquired at night or that otherwise represent a reduced quality ground image (e.g., cloud cover). For daytime images, if the VNIR or SWIR telescope collected data and precision correction was attempted, each precision terrain corrected image will have an accompanying independent quality assessment. It will include the geometric correction available for distribution as both a text file and single band browse images with the valid GCPs overlaid. This multi-file product also includes georeferenced full resolution browse images. The number of browse images and the band combinations of the images depends on the bands available in the corresponding AST_L1A dataset. Known Issues * TIR bands: Acquisitions for TIR bands ended on January 16, 2026, at 05:10:45 UTC, when the ASTER TIR instrument was permanently turned off due to power limitations on the Terra spacecraft. More information is available in this NASA Science News Brief. * Data acquisition gaps: On November 28, 2024, one of Terra's power-transmitting shunt units failed. As a result, there was insufficient power to maintain functionality of the ASTER instrument. ASTER resumed acquisitions for the VNIR bands on January 18, 2025, and for the TIR bands on April 15, 2025. Users should note the data gap in ASTER acquisitions from November 28, 2024, through January 16, 2025, for VNIR observations, and a gap from November 28, 2024, through April 15, 2025, for TIR acquisitions. * Zero values: Since October 1, 2017, a correction addresses zero-filled scans in low-latitude, ascending orbit (nighttime) TIR data. Additional details are available in the ASTER L1T User Advisory. * SWIR bands: ASTER SWIR detectors are no longer functioning as of January 12, 2009, due to anomalously high SWIR detector temperatures. * SWIR anomaly: Users are advised that ASTER SWIR data acquired from April 2008 to January 11, 2009, exhibit anomalous saturation of values and anomalous striping. This effect is also present for some prior acquisition periods. Please refer to the ASTER SWIR User Advisory for more details.

The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Level 1A (AST_L1A) contains reconstructed, instrument digital numbers (DNs) derived from the acquired telemetry streams of the telescopes: Visible and Near Infrared (VNIR), Shortwave Infrared (SWIR), and Thermal Infrared (TIR). Additionally, geometric correction coefficients and radiometric calibration coefficients are calculated and appended to the metadata but not applied. The AST_L1A product has a spatial resolution of 15 meters (m) for the VNIR bands, 30 m for the SWIR bands, and 90 m for the TIR bands. Known Issues * TIR bands: Acquisitions for TIR bands ended on January 16, 2026, at 05:10:45 UTC, when the ASTER TIR instrument was permanently turned off due to power limitations on the Terra spacecraft. More information is available in this NASA Science News Brief. * Data acquisition gaps: On November 28, 2024, one of Terra's power-transmitting shunt units failed. As a result, there was insufficient power to maintain functionality of the ASTER instrument. ASTER resumed acquisitions for the VNIR bands on January 18, 2025, and for the TIR bands on April 15, 2025. Users should note the data gap in ASTER acquisitions from November 28, 2024, through January 16, 2025, for VNIR observations, and a gap from November 28, 2024, through April 15, 2025, for TIR acquisitions. * SWIR bands: ASTER SWIR detectors are no longer functioning as of January 12, 2009, due to anomalously high SWIR detector temperatures. * SWIR anomaly: Users are advised that ASTER SWIR data acquired from April 2008 to January 11, 2009, exhibit anomalous saturation of values and anomalous striping. This effect is also present for some prior acquisition periods. Please refer to the ASTER SWIR User Advisory for more details.

The Terra Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Global Digital Elevation Model (GDEM) Version 3 (ASTGTM) provides a global digital elevation model (DEM) of land areas on Earth at a spatial resolution of 1 arc second (approximately 30 meter horizontal posting at the equator). The development of the ASTER GDEM data products is a collaborative effort between National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI). The ASTER GDEM data products are created by the Sensor Information Laboratory Corporation (SILC) in Tokyo. The ASTER GDEM Version 3 data product was created from the automated processing of the entire ASTER Level 1A archive of scenes acquired between March 1, 2000, and November 30, 2013. Stereo correlation was used to produce over one million individual scene based ASTER DEMs, to which cloud masking was applied. All cloud screened DEMs and non-cloud screened DEMs were stacked. Residual bad values and outliers were removed. In areas with limited data stacking, several existing reference DEMs were used to supplement ASTER data to correct for residual anomalies. Selected data were averaged to create final pixel values before partitioning the data into 1 degree latitude by 1 degree longitude tiles with a one pixel overlap. To correct elevation values of water body surfaces, the ASTER Global Water Bodies Database (ASTWBD) Version 1 data product was also generated. The geographic coverage of the ASTER GDEM extends from 83° North to 83° South. Each tile is distributed in both a Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF (COG) and NetCDF4 format through NASA Earthdata Search. Data are projected on the 1984 World Geodetic System (WGS84)/1996 Earth Gravitational Model (EGM96) geoid. Each of the 22,912 tiles in the collection contain at least 0.01% land area. Provided in the ASTER GDEM product are layers for DEM and number of scenes (NUM). The NUM layer indicates the number of scenes that were processed for each pixel and the source of the data. While the ASTER GDEM Version 3 data products offer substantial improvements over Version 2, users are advised that the products still may contain anomalies and artifacts that will reduce its usability for certain applications. Known Issues * ASTER GDEM Version 3 tiles overlap by one pixel to the north, south, east, and west of the tile perimeter. In most cases the overlapping edge pixels have identical pixel values, but it is possible that in some instances values will differ. * ASTER GDEM Version 3 is considered to be void free except for Greenland and Antarctica. * Users are reminded that because there are known inaccuracies and artifacts in the dataset, to use the product with awareness of these limitations. The data are provided "as is" and neither NASA nor METI/Earth Resources Satellite Data Analysis Center (ERSDAC) will be responsible for any damages resulting from use of the data.

The Terra Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Level 1B (AST_L1B) Registered Radiance at the Sensor data product is radiometrically calibrated and geometrically co-registered. Application of intra-telescope and inter-telescope registration corrections for all bands are relative to the reference band for each telescope: Visible and Near Infrared (VNIR) Band 2, Shortwave Infrared (SWIR) Band 6, and Thermal Infrared (TIR) Band 11. The AST_L1B product has a spatial resolution of 15 meters (m) for the VNIR bands, 30 m for the SWIR bands, and 90 m for the TIR bands. Known Issues * TIR bands: Acquisitions for TIR bands ended on January 16, 2026, at 05:10:45 UTC, when the ASTER TIR instrument was permanently turned off due to power limitations on the Terra spacecraft. More information is available in this NASA Science News Brief. * Data acquisition gaps: On November 28, 2024, one of Terra's power-transmitting shunt units failed. As a result, there was insufficient power to maintain functionality of the ASTER instrument. ASTER resumed acquisitions for the VNIR bands on January 18, 2025, and for the TIR bands on April 15, 2025. Users should note the data gap in ASTER acquisitions from November 28, 2024, through January 16, 2025, for VNIR observations, and a gap from November 28, 2024, through April 15, 2025, for TIR acquisitions. * SWIR bands: ASTER SWIR detectors are no longer functioning as of January 12, 2009, due to anomalously high SWIR detector temperatures. * SWIR anomaly: Users are advised that ASTER SWIR data acquired from April 2008 to January 11, 2009, exhibit anomalous saturation of values and anomalous striping. This effect is also present for some prior acquisition periods. Please refer to the ASTER SWIR User Advisory for more details.

The Terra Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Global Digital Elevation Model (GDEM) Version 3 (ASTGTM) provides a global digital elevation model (DEM) of land areas on Earth at a spatial resolution of 1 arc second (approximately 30 meter horizontal posting at the equator). The development of the ASTER GDEM data products is a collaborative effort between National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI). The ASTER GDEM data products are created by the Sensor Information Laboratory Corporation (SILC) in Tokyo. The ASTER GDEM Version 3 data product was created from the automated processing of the entire ASTER Level 1A archive of scenes acquired between March 1, 2000, and November 30, 2013. Stereo correlation was used to produce over one million individual scene based ASTER DEMs, to which cloud masking was applied. All cloud screened DEMs and non-cloud screened DEMs were stacked. Residual bad values and outliers were removed. In areas with limited data stacking, several existing reference DEMs were used to supplement ASTER data to correct for residual anomalies. Selected data were averaged to create final pixel values before partitioning the data into 1 degree latitude by 1 degree longitude tiles with a one pixel overlap. To correct elevation values of water body surfaces, the ASTER Global Water Bodies Database (ASTWBD) Version 1 data product was also generated. The geographic coverage of the ASTER GDEM extends from 83° North to 83° South. Each tile is distributed in both a Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF (COG) and NetCDF4 format through NASA Earthdata Search. Data are projected on the 1984 World Geodetic System (WGS84)/1996 Earth Gravitational Model (EGM96) geoid. Each of the 22,912 tiles in the collection contain at least 0.01% land area. Provided in the ASTER GDEM product are layers for DEM and number of scenes (NUM). The NUM layer indicates the number of scenes that were processed for each pixel and the source of the data. While the ASTER GDEM Version 3 data products offer substantial improvements over Version 2, users are advised that the products still may contain anomalies and artifacts that will reduce its usability for certain applications. Known Issues * ASTER GDEM Version 3 tiles overlap by one pixel to the north, south, east, and west of the tile perimeter. In most cases the overlapping edge pixels have identical pixel values, but it is possible that in some instances values will differ. * ASTER GDEM Version 3 is considered to be void free except for Greenland and Antarctica. * Users are reminded that because there are known inaccuracies and artifacts in the dataset, to use the product with awareness of these limitations. The data are provided "as is" and neither NASA nor METI/Earth Resources Satellite Data Analysis Center (ERSDAC) will be responsible for any damages resulting from use of the data.

The Terra Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Global Digital Elevation Model (GDEM) Version 3 (ASTGTM) provides a global digital elevation model (DEM) of land areas on Earth at a spatial resolution of 1 arc second (approximately 30 meter horizontal posting at the equator). The development of the ASTER GDEM data products is a collaborative effort between National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI). The ASTER GDEM data products are created by the Sensor Information Laboratory Corporation (SILC) in Tokyo. The ASTER GDEM Version 3 data product was created from the automated processing of the entire ASTER Level 1A archive of scenes acquired between March 1, 2000, and November 30, 2013. Stereo correlation was used to produce over one million individual scene based ASTER DEMs, to which cloud masking was applied. All cloud screened DEMs and non-cloud screened DEMs were stacked. Residual bad values and outliers were removed. In areas with limited data stacking, several existing reference DEMs were used to supplement ASTER data to correct for residual anomalies. Selected data were averaged to create final pixel values before partitioning the data into 1 degree latitude by 1 degree longitude tiles with a one pixel overlap. To correct elevation values of water body surfaces, the ASTER Global Water Bodies Database (ASTWBD) Version 1 data product was also generated. The geographic coverage of the ASTER GDEM extends from 83° North to 83° South. Each tile is distributed in both a Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF (COG) and NetCDF4 format through NASA Earthdata Search. Data are projected on the 1984 World Geodetic System (WGS84)/1996 Earth Gravitational Model (EGM96) geoid. Each of the 22,912 tiles in the collection contain at least 0.01% land area. Provided in the ASTER GDEM product are layers for DEM and number of scenes (NUM). The NUM layer indicates the number of scenes that were processed for each pixel and the source of the data. While the ASTER GDEM Version 3 data products offer substantial improvements over Version 2, users are advised that the products still may contain anomalies and artifacts that will reduce its usability for certain applications. Known Issues * ASTER GDEM Version 3 tiles overlap by one pixel to the north, south, east, and west of the tile perimeter. In most cases the overlapping edge pixels have identical pixel values, but it is possible that in some instances values will differ. * ASTER GDEM Version 3 is considered to be void free except for Greenland and Antarctica. * Users are reminded that because there are known inaccuracies and artifacts in the dataset, to use the product with awareness of these limitations. The data are provided "as is" and neither NASA nor METI/Earth Resources Satellite Data Analysis Center (ERSDAC) will be responsible for any damages resulting from use of the data.